Meredith Music Festival
The Supernatural Amphitheatre, Meredith
Fri 14 - Sun 16 Dec



Last things first: the spirit of Meredith Music Festival rang through Root!, the final band of the weekend. As Sunday moved into the afternoon, the dedicated festival remainders were suitably seduced by the pithy ravings of DC Root, his faux FM authority voice imploring us to (not) get out of our comfort zone. With song titles like I Wish I Was Tex Perkins and Pauline Hanson Says There Are Christian Muslims Too, fans of TISM will love this new incarnation. Irreverent, nodding to the past without bathing in sentimentality, a little bit country, a lot rock and roll and no slave to cool, Root! were a fine and fitting end to Meredith. New banks of composted-on-site toilets and the same love of a whole lot of music combined to make surely the best camp out festival in the country.

Opening Friday evening with the psychedelic rock of Adelaide's Lady Strangelove howling across and beyond the Supernatural Amphitheatre, the festival got off to a fierce start in the late afternoon heat. Black Pony Express and Ned Collette provided some background music, and The Galvatrons were stuck on the West Coast of the USA circa 1983, complete with sneakers and face paint. Dr Dog attempted some lovely old guitar pop songs, but the back to back hits of Friday night were Melbourne's Eddy Current Suppression Ring - tightly wound, razor sharp rock on a precipice - followed by the highly evolved blues boogie of Clutch, from the American South.

A damp Saturday morning saw Little Red win hearts with their good time sixties inspired set - complete with mop top drummer - after a dour Devastations. Andrew WK appeared in his dirty whites with a rock band packed in his keyboard, which he bashed into oblivion, as he cajoled the audience to chant 'love' and live for the moment, which during his set mean doing the head banger monkey dance. I can hardly remember any of his actual songs, but the audacious energy and the way he clapped himself and the audience at the end of each one was the first mad hit of the weekend.

The nearly all Aussie Saturday night shifted into gear with Midnight Juggernauts at dusk, a crowd pleaser, and then Gotye courageously played a quiet and gentle set when punters were itching to cut loose. There was disappointment when it was announced Muscles could not make his 2:15 time slot, soothed a little by the between act DJ dropping Bohemian Rhapsody and the promise of a festival singalong but it was cut short for the Hoodoo Gurus, so they had a lot to make up. Their garage pop rock was sounding muddy on the Saturday night stage, but the set crystallised into a stream of hits including the brilliant Bittersweet. Many may disagree, but Cut Copy bringing New Order to the masses is somewhat admirable, but bland, unlike the uncompromising Gossip. The basic, raw two piece behind Beth Ditto are perfect punks for her soul vocal. Edgy and unafraid of 9,000 amped revellers, she saunters into What's Love Got To Do With It and then expressed no regret at the demise of famous wife basher of Tina, Ike Turner. Fuck the patriarchy indeed.

On Sunday The Smallgoods were beautiful and well worth the effort getting out of the tent: pastoral folks who know how to string together a lovely song about going to the mountains to start a cult. King Brothers, a Japanese blitzkrieg rock quartet had the audience squealing with delight as they sandwiched the smooth yet uninspiring sounds of Sarah Blasko.

And that is just the music! The Meredith Gift was run and won - the penultimate event of a nude dash in front of the stage - the costumes, the carnival excess, the mayhem, the massive on site recycling, the Aussie bush. A great weekend.

Narelle Walker